Back To The West

[aluka 32]

So far tiling of the toilets and kitchen are done. Currently running wires and cables for the house.

Electrical needs some planning especially for first time house owner. Numerous issues to consider and this will have a significant impact on the reno budget.

Many failed to realize how costly electrical is and fail to cater a realistic budget for it.

Number of lighting points - depends if you are doing false ceiling, cove lights. Normally false ceiling will come with down light.

One plus point of false ceiling is that it can help to conceal aircon trunkings, wiring etc.

Down light are costly, ranging from $20 or more, even more for LEDs. and each down light is consider as a lighting point.

So add the cost up - eg. down light cost $30, lighting point $35, installing $10 = $75, imagine if you have 20 of these.

Also have not add in the cost of the false ceiling.

13A Power Point - The price difference between one and double power point is a mere $10-$20, so most owners will go for double at a given point.

Then it is the cost of a double point that is the killer. Prices ranges from $60 or more per double. So if you place gonna install 15 double point, you know your math.

Data Point - Averages from $110 up. Average house need 4 points if doing structure cabling.

TV Point - eg. $90 per point, if all rooms need one, mean times 3.

Telephone Point - Also in the tens of dollars, can be $50 or more but may not be need in all rooms since most if not all uses HP. Unless fax is needed.

Then the rest there are aircon point, 2 way switches, installation of fan, installation of lights, hood & hob point etc subject to needs and want.

Some prefer different switches like Clipsal, Legrand, schneider etc and so the price snowball.....

Time to bring out the calculator......

Remember, each lighting point is counted as one point.

So if you choose a pendant light that needs 3 pcs of it to achieve that aesthetic look means you are paying 3 x lighting point and 3 x light installation.

2 way switches are a must in some houses due to layout. No one wants to off the living room light where the switch is near the main door and only to walk thru the darkness to the bed room.

So beware and be prepare.

Wow!. Many thanks for the thoughtful post..

[OceanEleven 203]

Hi OceanEleven,

Sorry I got kind of a stupid question regarding taobao lights. China power plug is different from Singapore right? So if we buy those lamps (table lamps, standing lamps) which plug into the power point, we have to use the converter?

But this is not an issue when we buy the pendant lights/LED lights because they will be connected to the electrical wiring system right?

Hi OceanEleven,

Sorry I got kind of a stupid question regarding taobao lights. China power plug is different from Singapore right? So if we buy those lamps (table lamps, standing lamps) which plug into the power point, we have to use the converter?

But this is not an issue when we buy the pendant lights/LED lights because they will be connected to the electrical wiring system right?

Yes, you are right. You need a converter. Cost is approx. $1 up. I got mine at $1.50. Picture as below.

This extra effort is worth considering the amount saved from getting lighting from TB/Tmall.

Pendant/ceiling/LED/down light have no problem what you mentioned.

Direct joining the wires omitted any plug issues.

[Puggy 13]

Yes, you are right. You need a converter. Cost is approx. $1 up. I got mine at $1.50. Picture as below.

This extra effort is worth considering the amount saved from getting lighting from TB/Tmall.

Pendant/ceiling/LED/down light have no problem what you mentioned.

Direct joining the wires omitted any plug issues.

Ok, thanks for confirming!

[lemoncandy 39]

NTUC was having the points with cash top up for Zwillings J.A. Henckels knives.

So there I was happily buying and exchanging until my wife ask me.......

Wife : Are you joining the Iron Chef?

Me : No. Why?

Wife : Then why in the whole wide world do you need so many knives?

3 out of the 4 knives I had changed.

Hahah i did the same thing! Only got the santoku knife though. it's really good!!

[freezy 2]

Not kitchen or dinner.

This lighting is not using LED, it is using a bulb call R7S

It generate a lot of heat and using high watt. 100 watt if I am not mistaken.

If you are using for foyer, think 35cm is good enough, any bigger might become a center piece and pale the reno of the house.

haha...i saving the earth

will try find LED lighting for foyer

[jgsy 2]

HiHi how much is this clock and where did you get this from?

Many thanks!!

And a replica clock. Hope it can last the time.

[OceanEleven 203]

CONSOLIDATED POST ABOUT TAOBAO AND TMALL

Taobao & Tmall

The interest and enthusiastic in Taobao and Tmall has always been high among folks. Most can spend hours and days searching for the ideal item to purchase.

Then again, some pre-requisite are required before one can venture further. Able to read Chinese, is half the job done then. The rest, there is always Google Translate.

Just to pen down some thoughts and journey went thru. Searching for the dream item is not the hard part. There some many items to of various design, pattern and colours to choose from. Choosing to buy from who is the tricky part. First there is Taobao and Tmall. So what is the difference? From what I understand, Tmall are more of premium sellers. Chances of getting fake stuffs from there are lesser the sellers are more reputable, quality assurance is there as well. Then again, this does not means Taobao has no good stuffs or mainly fakes. Practice some due diligence, if an offer looks too good to be true, then mostly it is.

For me I will look for those with 1) sales transaction 2) comments 3) higher diamonds rated seller. Read thru the comments, make sure the comments are coming from different names and also are frequents buyers and not some bogus buyers. Takes a little time but normally shall pay off well.

Next, the interesting part, all vendors has a MSN like chat 阿里旺旺, if you are able to type Chinese, download it. You can chat directly with the seller, asking questions of your concern and clarify some doubts such as colour & dimensions (esp for wood grain furniture). And seriously, you can bargain a little as well if you are buying a few items or more, or request free delivery to an address in China. With chatting, the seller can "custom" a link for you to meet your requirement be it the pricing or dimensions. Troublesome you may say but to me, it is part of the fun of online shopping.

I always chat when buying big ticket items and kinda get a little discount here and there. I was looking for some rain shower head, found this vendor, chat with him and found out that he is selling bidet spray as well but not listed on his site. So he sent me some pics, ask him about the material so end up buying 2 shower head and 2 bidet from him. He gave me a discount and I got some savings. Now he is offering me with more of his products for my consideration, send me mails with pics of some faucets and taps, will seriously consider if the price is right. Actually there is a small hiccup when buying from him, we both calculated the wrong amount to pay, I paid RMB60 more and the same evening, he refunded me straight away.

If you ask me, do I trust them? Yes and no. Yes because the Chinese are slowly moving into the phase of understanding the importance of customer service, word of mouth. Passed were the days where they do guerrilla warfare, whack & run. Sometimes due to the lack of monitoring in QC, one may get a lemon item once in a blue moon. Still it wont deters me from continuing to buy from there for some items are pretty enticing. Like a study table, local prices are like $500 up to $1k or more, carpentry is like $120 per foot run, while in TB/Tmall, you can get easily for approx. $300. Making it more appealing if you are buying 2.

Later I will post abit on how and who I used to ship the items.

Payment to Taobao or Tmall

Paying to TB and Tmall has always been a pain in the xxx. The more direct approach is buying thru agent but then agent charged a fee that sometimes makes the item no longer attractive. Eg. Peeka charges a 5% or min $5. If the item is low value, it is more contemptible to use such service. Not to forget, Peeka allow only up to 3 orders consolidation. (I think so)

So another way is to use Credit Cards, which personally I avoid at all cost.

This, firstly due to the unfavourable exchange rate and the 3% additional surcharge as well.

So what can we do then? We can use Alipay. All you have to do is to register an Alipay account, now Alipay can even accept Singapore mobile. This is a safety security function, when paying, Alipay will send a 6 digit pin SMS to you r mobile for payment. To top up to Alipay, we can use AXS machine, to purchase Alipay Purchase Card, choosing from RMB200, 500 and 1000 to. You will have to enter your email and contact. Receipt will be issued and email sent.

The email as follow:

Please find your Alipay Purchase Card transaction details below. Transaction Date/Time : 2014-02-09 10:51:29 Amount Paid : SGD $218.70 Card Value : RMB 1000 Card Serial No. : 800300xxxxxxxxxx Card PIN : 2xxxxx Email address : abc123@gmail.com Contact No : 9xxxxxxx

Also included are the instructions to top up in Alipay. Sounds easy right? But there are dome shortcomings as well too.

1) Unfavourable exchange rate charged. On this part, one has to do your own math, whether to buy thru agent and pay the fees/surcharge or thru this method.

2) Money top up cannot be refunded. So there will always be balance in the account. So it is better to plan and count how much you need before you top up.

Personally, I will still use this method. At least I get to control what I spend, know how much I have; TB account will have record what I had bought.

If received a super big lemon, I can deal direct with seller. Thru agent, there is no record unless agent able to retrieve for you but this will involve agent details such as payment, accounts etc. Any refund is also back to payee and not you. Long and tedious I feel.

LATEST UPDATE

Payment in TB, I understand when nowadays when you sent up a Taobao account, you will auto get a Alipay account.

Alipay 支付宝 is the payment platform similar as Paypal. If you did not get the account, suggest you to get set up one Alipay account anyway.

In Taobao, after placing an order, the site will direct you to payment page. From there choose this ： 海外其它地区版.

From there, you will see Nets payment. Yes, Nets payment. Surcharge is SGD1 per transaction.

And from here, I believe the rest is history.

So there you go, Taobao made easy for all.

[xiaohuiis 7]

eNETS rate is so much better then cc. Just bought some stuffs and my exchange rates are 4.9 and 5

[OceanEleven 203]

Shipping By AMCON

I did a little homework, ask around a little, made some calls and decided to use Amcon.

Why I choose them? I called them a couple of times; I even spoke to the lady boss – May.

Communication is there but pretty much on the vague side though. Only thru more conversations I managed to get a better grasp of the complete process.

The process is actually pretty straight forward, especially if you purchase yourself and send to Amcon’s warehouse in China.

Though Amcon provide purchase on behalf option but I believe the charges is RMB50 per order (regardless of quantity) which I totally skipped.

Amcon has 4 warehouses in China. Namely – Guangzhou, Dongguan, shanghai and Zhejiang Yiwu.

So choose one point as your delivery point. I used Guangzhou because it seems most items on Tmall or Taobao are from the Guangdong region.

Next, when you order your items, you have to “mark” your items. By marking means filling in a standard for all delivery address such as following:

**广州市越秀区北站南路69号义庆商储仓135 / 112库

联系人：倪先生 / 何小姐

电话/传真：020 - 3637 7718

手机：137 1160 1896

BLOCK 135/112,NO.69 BEI ZHAN NAN RD,YUEXIU,CHINA 转

Ang Mo Kio Ave 6 Blk xxx #xx-xx Singapore xxxxxx (your name) (mobile number)

转 = transfer

This is for Amcon to identify things you have ordered and to consolidate. One shortcoming is that Amcon will not follow up if they received the items.

You have to tracked it yourself from Tmall or Taobao (so far both will indicate item been delivered and signed for), neither nor will Amcon check the items for defects. So practice caution when purchasing fragile items.

Do note that though Peeka offer to check items but limited to certain packaging only. Anything that is wooded crated, they will not check as well.

In my opinion, the risk is still worth taking, especially if you have getting savings from the items purchased after comparing with getting locally.

“Marking” means by filling the above address ** in your Taobao account and set it as default delivery address.

Pros & Cons

Pros: Reasonable shipping rates, office in Singapore, able to consolidate items, good for bulky items.

Cons: No checking of items, a bit slow cos only sea freight, no informing when received items.

Charges

LCL Charges

From Guangzhou Warehouse to your Address

A) 1 CBM 550RMB/CBM

B) Documentation Fee SGD35/set

C) 7% GST

[OceanEleven 203]

Amcon & Shipping

Some folks are still a little confuse so I will try to be a little more detail.

Set up an account in Taobao or Tmall, set up in one and you can use the same account in either site.

Go fill up the delivery address in Taobao**, as always, all online shopping needs a shipping address.

Shipping address, please refer to above writings. You MUST write in 2 address for Amcon to identify as your item.

Else simply shipping to Amcon China will not indicate who the buyer is or what is inside the package.

Next is the payment in TB, I understand when nowadays when you sent up a Taobao account, you will auto get an Alipay account.

Alipay 支付宝 is the payment platform similar as Paypal. If you did not get the account, suggest you to get set up one Alipay account as well.

In Taobao, after placing an order, the site will direct you to payment page. From there choose this ： 海外其它地区版.

From there, you will see Nets payment. Yes, Nets payment. Surcharge is SGD1 per transaction.

And from here, I believe the rest is history.

So there you go, Taobao made easy for all.

As mentioned in my earlier post, first identify your forwarder. In my case, I employed the service of Amcon.

So I will make my purchase, informing the seller to input delivery address as "Amcon address/My address". (Refer to my earlier post)

The 2 addresses is for seller to send to Amcon and your address for Amcon to identify that it is your item.

If you are consolidating, then please email to Amcon, informing them the "Amcon address/My address".

Instruct them not to send until you give the green light as you are consolidating.

Next follow up with a phone call to Amcon Singapore to confirm they received the mail and understood your intention.

So far Amcon aint a big fan of replying email so do your part to chip in the effort.

When you are ready to ship, please prepare a list for Amcon.

Details needed: Domestic delivery number (快递单号), delivery company name(快递公司名), item description, quantity and value.

All these can be found on your Taobao account under purchased item.

Info are need for Amcon to ensure all items have arrived at Amcon warehouse and ready for shipping.

Also for custom declaration and GST purposes.

Hope the above helps. Happy shopping.

Note: You only need to inform Amcon once that you are consolidating and do not ship out your purchase till you are ready.

Multiple reminder are not require and unnecessary.

Do so when your FIRST item is ship out and not wait for a few to ship out and NOT

[OceanEleven 203]

Above are some postings on TB, Tmall and shipping via Amcon.

Consolidated on the same page for easy reference.

Hope they can be of help for those venturing into TB and Tamll.

[Edmund Hee 0]

Hi Ocean11,

can share the taobao link for yr curtain?

thks

[OceanEleven 203]

Hi Ocean11,

can share the taobao link for yr curtain?

thks

Not going to share the links, a little disappointed by the quality.

No it is that bad but kinda fail on some expectation. The curtains are usable, pretty ok I would say.

Did not like the rods I bought, didnt look that great, no gonna use them.

I went for some plain and simple type, using "eyelets" or rig type for easy hanging.

So, for curtains are still ok, value for money, rods etc, can forget it.

[Puggy 13]

Hi OceanEleven,

Have you bought taobao through agent like peeka before? Are the fees through agent much more expensive than using Amcon?

[binzz 10]

Ocean Eleven, do you have any problem receiving the goods in Taobao after they reach Amcon? I keep trying to accept the goods, but my password is always wrong. What if we did not receive the goods in Taobao? Any idea?

Thanks so much for all the pointers.